GABERONE (Botswana) – Tannery Industries Botswana, the bovine leather tannery which was set up last year with a view to beneficiating wet blue hides from the nearby Botswana Meat Commission wet blue plant, expects to start delivering to South African customers by March this year.

Commercial director Makekantwa Mmapatsi said the company had sampled for several footwear manufacturers and leather furniture companies, and “negotiations are at a very advanced stage with some of them, especially on the footwear side”.
“At the moment we’re finalising our recipes and fine-tuning our equipment, as well as training up staff,” he said, “but we’re already in limited production, stock-piling leather.”
He said the tannery’s target was to produce 900 hides/day, “and it appears from demand that we’ll reach that by the end of this year”.
Acknowledging that hide supply “will be a bit of a struggle”, he said the company had been negotiating with collectors in Botswana’s more rural areas, and had also approached hide sources in Namibia and Zimbabwe. “They’ve all indicated they’re willing to supply us,” he said. “We would have those hides contract wet blue tanned at BMC.”
He said the company had also stockpiled hides in anticipation of increased production – [Tel: +267 390 6578, e-mail tib@botsnet.bw]